Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) PT Raised to $125.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) had its price target lifted by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $120.00 to $125.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the healthcare product maker’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.32% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on ABT. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $119.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Edward Jones lowered shares of Abbott Laboratories from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Raymond James restated a “buy” rating and set a $129.00 price target (up from $122.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.07.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT traded down $0.25 on Thursday, reaching $117.57. The stock had a trading volume of 584,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,704,131. Abbott Laboratories has a 12-month low of $91.64 and a 12-month high of $121.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $113.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.40. The company has a market cap of $204.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.55 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.65% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, CEO Robert B. Ford sold 141,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.41, for a total transaction of $16,492,852.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,617,068.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 165,301,921 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $18,788,216,000 after purchasing an additional 8,834,840 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 9.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 70,177,564 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $7,976,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,882,780 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 10,675,827 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,103,997,000 after acquiring an additional 508,524 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 27.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,428,752 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $771,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,352,134 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $721,984,000 after acquiring an additional 452,308 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.